Cool things I’ve seen

Written by Robin Thomas, Digital Business Strategist at Now.

Kicking off this week with a lot going on over at Google. Having more data than pretty much anyone else in the world they’re partnering with The American Heart Association to bring ‘new approaches to research’ into the causes, treatments and prevention of heart disease. They’re trying to kill off VR headsets like Oculus Rift before they even get going by giving Cardboard an upgrade in the same week that they announced that YouTube will now support VR and 3D video on mobile.

Meanwhile across the road at Facebook most of the chatter has been about their stellar Q3 ad revenues which totalled $4.3bn, up 45% YOY. The most interesting thing about these results is that they are almost entirely fuelled by their mobile properties and when you consider that they were born on desktop and had to adapt to mobile, it’s all the more impressive.

I’m a fan of anything that helps people get into coding and jumping on the bandwagon of all things StarWars is Code.Org. They have created a branded Java programme that teaches the basics based in the world of the force awakens. Enjoy.

Mixed week for Evan Spiegel and the team at Snapchat. At the start of the week the FT were waxing about their 6bn daily video views, but by the end the only fund manager to invest in them (and they are a pretty important one) Fidelity Investments, wrote down the value of its investment by 25%. Ouch.

Stat of the week – $5m. The amount of money Sam Mendes reportedly turned down when Samsung offered an android phone for Bond saying ‘Bond only uses the best’. Snap.

And finally… I am no fan of reality TV, but this is pretty cool. Over in South Africa, SA’s Got Talent has just finished and it was won by a 3-year-old DJ. Yep.